Something of a Strange Topic

I didn’t think I’d write another entry today, but as I was reading some of your entries out there in JournalLand an interesting idea for an entry happened to strike me, and I wanted to write about it before I forgot I had the idea.

This is one I think about pretty often, even though it’s been years, and I probably shouldn’t be thinking about it anyway.

It’s a story everyone has: “The One That Got Away”. It’s been more than 10 years, and I still don’t know if I’ll ever let her completely go.

It was December 2006. I had fallen completely overboard for this girl from a different school that I’d met some months earlier. Well, I was elated when she IMed me (Those were back in the days of AOL Instant Messenger) and asked if I’d be her date to her winter formal. CHA-CHING! I was in like Flynn! We were going to the dance together, I was going to spend the night after at her house (Another seemingly groundbreaking thing), and we’d be boyfriend/girlfriend!

Well… That’s kinda what happened. We went to the dance, had a good time, even shared a few kisses! I spent the night (in my own bedroom, but still…) and went home the next day. The next week or two, I was walking on air. I had a girlfriend! Until…

One night, during one of our IM chats, I could tell something was off. Then she hit me with a whopper: “What would you call ‘us’?”

What do you mean, “What would you call ‘us’?” We’re a couple, aren’t we?

Our “relationship” lasted maybe three weeks total. But, she was the one I wanted; the one for whom I pined for roughly six months. I had had a taste of something concrete, and to lose it destroyed me.

I used to dream about her, after the fact. I’d see her and wake in the morning and wonder why. It always hurt.

Now, eleven years after, I still think about her every once in a while. The last painful strike was when I noticed that she unfriended me on Facebook maybe two years ago. I guess it was just too much to ask that we should stay casual acquaintances.

That said, I’m long over the real heartbreak. I’ve been in a wonderful relationship since 2008 with the woman I’m marrying next weekend. But still, once in a while, one looks back, remembers the experience, and wonders.